Everything about my helpless little cupcake is perfect for the big, strong, conqueror in me, and I fucking want her, everything else be damned. So she lied a little and got mixed up with the wrong crowd. What impressionable young woman hasn’t fallen into that trap before?
It’s not the end of the world, not after seeing her broken little body in that alley and learning that I could very well lose her. She’s only here with me now because Pop flew in one of his surgeon buddies and the man managed to repair the bleed in one of her kidneys.
I doubt she even knows how extensive her injuries are thanks to all the pain meds they’ve been pumping into her at my insistence, but that’s for the best right now.
I don’t want her thinking about how close she came to death. Shit, I can’t think about it without breaking into a cold sweat and seeing spots.
Hell, I can’t allow myself to think of any of it right now without my chest threatening to explode and free the bleeding heart thumping in its recesses.
I’ll remember every second of racing towards her with dread and pure terror for the rest of my life.
The car ride into the city was unbearable and I almost didn’t make it without accident, but the rest…
To run into that alley and see a little lump of barely breathing, bloody, bruised flesh…to finally get my hands on her, only to feel her weak pulse and listen to her rattling breaths…
That almost destroyed me to the point that I knew I could never let her go, no matter how hurt and pissed I am at her.
She almost died.
That thought keeps replaying in my head on an endless loop that threatens to drive me insane if I allow myself to even think it. And now here we are, almost a full twenty-four hours later. She’s not only alive, but she woke up to give me shit.
That thought makes my lips twitch and I rub at my chest as the affectionate ache sets in. My cupcake, my precious little jewel, is with me and she’s coming up swinging just as I’ve been coaching her to do for months.
Don’t get me wrong, I still see my girl in there with all her fear and heartache and that shyness that makes my cock so hard. Sometimes I’d have to end our calls early just to jerk off before I went nuts with need.
But the woman I know lurks beneath the surface is the one who opened her eye and glared at me despite the danger she must have felt coming off me in waves, and I fucking love it.
She’s not afraid. Well, not terrified, at least, of showing me some of those claws she’s been honing and it’s such a turn-on that I know I’ll have to stay away from her for a while or risk harming her if I can’t control myself.
“Hey, man, you’re leaving Paulie alone?”
I whip around to see Wyatt and Ellie coming my way as I step out of the hospital and breathe in the muggy air of late afternoon.
“She’s eating and the nurse is gonna give her a sponge bath,” I say, leaning down to peck Ellie on the cheek as Wyatt lets out a low growl and frowns darkly.
Christ, the man is a possessive ape when it comes to his wife, and just the thought of me having that with my cupcake makes my dick cry out in distress.
“Calm down, Tarzan. Can’t a man say hello to his little sister without your beast coming out?”
“No. Keep your lips to yourself. Or better yet, kiss your own mate and leave mine alone,” Wyatt says, wincing at the elbow Ellie drives into his gut.
“Hush, Wyatt, your brother is going through a difficult time and needs all the love we can give him. Come here, you big softy!” she coos, grabbing me into a hug that makes my bones creak with the strength of her arms enfolding me.
“Christ, Ellie, you been eating all your spinach, girl?” I tease, closing my eyes and hugging her back for dear life.
“Yup.” She giggles, pulling away with a smile that looks sad and yet happy at the same time. “She’s okay? Miah said she woke up—”
“She’s alive, which is a fucking miracle to begin with.”
“Language, asshole,” Wyatt says and Ellie and I both grin.
My brother hates it when we curse in front of his wife, and yet I have not met a fouler mouthed motherfucker in my life. Double standards is what it is.
“Oh, Jared, I’m so glad. I hardly slept all night, and me and Ma and Clari prayed so hard for her. How is she?”
I run a hand through my hair and breathe out heavily, doing my best to keep my anger at bay as I fill them in on Cupcake’s condition.
“She looks like hell. Whoever took their fists to her did a stellar job of roughing her up. Her eyes are almost completely swollen shut but for the little sliver she can crack the left one. Her mouth is a mess and she’s bruised everywhere. Three bruised ribs and she’s just come out of surgery because someone kicked her so hard, her left kidney was bleeding….”
I stop at the reminder and take a few slow breaths before continuing. Ellie looks horrified while Wyatt just looks ready to start killing, something I’d join him I if I actually had a target at hand right now.
The need to hurt something or someone is riding me hard and it’s taking all I got to just keep myself locked down and controlled right now.
“Fuck. They worked her over real well.”
I snort at Wyatt’s assessment and turn to enter the hospital again, needing to be close to Cupcake no matter how much it hurts me right now.
I haven’t even told them the worst of it yet, and I can’t say I ever will. Not this. The doctors did a thorough exam on her before rushing her to the OR, and what they found makes my anger so white hot, it’s all I can do not to start ripping the city apart in search of those fucks.
Cupcake had blood staining her thighs…a lot of blood that came from…and the doctors were so horrified…
I can’t continue thinking this way, I acknowledge as I hit the elevator with my family and it starts ascending slowly. If I let those thoughts in, I know I’ll lose it, and that’s not what Paulie needs right now.
I’m being hard on her at the moment, and maybe it’s some of my anger coming through, but for the most part it’s me needing to take charge and get her in line before she starts thinking stupid shit like she’s going home or…I just need her to be a little afraid right now so that I can get her where I need her without too much fuss.
When we’re home I will try to let go of some of my resentment, and I will try to listen to what she has to say. Part of me doesn’t want to even hear it, because it terrifies me to think how I’ll feel if she tells me she did it for that fuck Huley, her “fiancé.”
We step off of the elevator and I halt Wyatt and Ellie two doors down from Cupcake’s private room.
“Don’t do or say anything to upset her, and for God’s sake, do not let on how terrible she looks. Please. She’s already so self-conscious and iffy about that shit that I don’t want—”
“What the fuck do we look like, bro? I would never say anything to hurt her and neither would Ellie. Now calm your beat and breathe, yeah? We’re here to see our sister and make sure she’s okay,” Wyatt interrupts, squeezing my shoulder with a brotherly smile that eases some of the tightness in my chest. “She’s one of ours, no matter what came before. Family takes care of family, end of story. Now cool it and let’s go see how she’s doing.”
The nod I give him is one of thanks and gratitude because he understands what I’m going through right now, and I’m so glad not to be the only one feeling this shit.
“No! I told you to leave me alone! Haven’t you done enough?”
Everything inside me stalls and then starts beating a wild rhythm when I hear her voice, and I march into her room, Wyatt and Ellie hot on my heels. Cupcake is sitting up, close to tears and so pale, her sheets have more color.
I spot her parents standing beside her bed, their faces twisted with what I can only describe as malice and desperation.
“Paulette! You will come home right now and stop this nonsense at once!” Tanya Hayes says shrilly, making me grateful that my girl is nothing like this washed-up old windbag. “Yo
u have commitments to this family, and by God I will see you carry them out.”
Her voice makes me think of nails on a chalkboard, and that pinched expression reminds me of old Mrs. Talbot, my math teacher and the bane of my existence in the fourth grade.
And that father of hers…
“What the hell is going on here?” I snarl, stalking over to Cupcake when all the Hayeses do is glare and lift their noses at me. “Paulette?”
Her eyes are swimming in tears and I curse when I look down to see half-moons dotting the skin of her delicate arm where her mother must have grabbed hold of her.
“I didn’t do this, I swear,” she says softly, her lip trembling. “They just came in and started demanding I go home. Andrew is—”
“Dead if he so much as breathes near her again,” I finish, lifting my eyes to glower at her parents.
“Now see here, young man. Andy is within his full rights to want his fiancée back. Paulette—”
“Is hurt and in need of care right now. Care that I will be providing her as my fiancée. Now you’re either here to check on her and show some fucking well-earned concern, or you can get the hell out and leave her alone. She’s been through enough.”
They all still, Cupcake included, and I want to kick myself when her eyes start going glossy and a lone tear slips free. This is why I stay away from her. The woman only has to turn those hurt eyes on me and I’m ready to fall to my knees and promise her the world.
The Hayeses finally collect themselves, no doubt shocked at my words, and start yelling all at once, making my teeth ache because I’m grinding my jaw so hard.
“Your fiancée? Paulette! You know that you’re promised to Andy,” Tanya starts screeching, making us all wince.
My baby just glares and curls her injured lip in disdain.
“No. I know that you’ve been trying to sell me off to the highest bidder for years and that I never once agreed. I’ll marry that no-good, lying bag of excrement the day a snowball makes it out of hell intact,” she hisses, gasping for breath when her agitated movements wrench her injured ribs.
Her words are received about as well as my earlier statement was, and I watch in fury as the witch lunges forward and grabs hold of Cupcake with a snarl, her fingers digging into the purple bruise on her right wrist.
I’m about to rip her fingers clear off when I see Ellie move so fast, I feel the air stir around us before she grabs Tanya and whips her into the wall behind them.
“You touch her again and it’ll be the last Goddamned thing your miserable hide ever does, Cruella. Now back the fuck off my sister and skedaddle before I drop this civilized exterior and take off my earrings.”
“You—”
“Nuh-uh, I’d rethink whatever you’re about to say lady, or I’m going to get real mad about the fact that you dared slither your ugly ass in here and upset Paulie while she’s in pain and recovering from surgery,” Ellie warns, taking a step closer as Tanya’s mouth flaps open.
“Ellie, baby—”
“Hush, Wyatt,” she says softly before turning her glare on the father and spitting crudely. “We all know exactly what sort of family you people are, and I’ll be Goddamned if I let our Paulie deal with you yahoos a moment longer. Now you’re either here to show concern or you aren’t. Your choice, but the end result will be the same. Paulie is coming home to us where she belongs, and there’s not a thing you can do about that.”
God I love that woman. She’s fierce and perfectly crazy and I have no doubt in my mind that if Tanya so much as breathes on Cupcake right now, Ellie would rip her arm off and beat both parents to death with the thing.
“Paulette.”
This time the father opens his mouth, turning his hardened gaze on Paulie in a way that makes my skin crawl. Her reaction is so apparently fearful that I narrow my eyes and see Wyatt do the same when she tenses up and looks ready to bolt with a breath.
“Father, I—”
“You need to remember our talk, Paulette. We’ve been over this before and—”
“I’ll thank you to stop intimidating my daughter and get your ass out of my hospital, Franklin Hayes.”
That growl and the agitated screech that comes after it makes me smile and step back with a chuckle.
The cavalry has arrived, and I know I won’t have to say a Goddamned thing now. Not with Ma and Pop here to go toe to toe with these animals.
I’m still tripping off the look of fear in Cupcake’s eyes, so I abandon the melee and make my way to her, taking her trembling hand in mine as Ma advances on Tanya and stands frowning so hard, I see the bitch swallow nervously.
Franklin Hayes just turns away and meets Pop’s gaze with more bravado than I thought the worm capable of. My pop may be heading towards sixty, but the man is as huge as his sons and fitter than a man his age has any right to be considering his heart condition and the doctors’ worries.
Pop could probably take poor Frank with one hand tied behind his back, and I look forward to seeing that if the man should be foolish enough to argue.
“Now see here, Lane—”
“No, you see here,” Pop snarls, curling his fists with a growl.
“That girl is my kid from here on out. You’ve done a piss-poor job of being parents to her and tried to marry her off to a man who’d rather beat her half to death than give her a kind word. You’re mixed up in this mess, I know you are, and I won’t allow her to suffer another day because of your greed. Now I told you to get the fuck out of here. You’re upsetting my kid and she needs peace and quiet to heal.”
Wyatt starts chuckling under his breath and I have to resist the urge to laugh outright when old Frank draws himself up and takes a threatening step closer.
“You have no idea who you’re messing with, Lane.”
“Yes! No idea,” Tanya chirps, quieting down immediately when my perfectly coiffed mother takes a step closer, her fist curled and ready.
“One more word and you’ll be drinking soup out of a straw, Tanya Hayes.”
It’s a spectacle and I’m enjoying the heck out of it as Cupcake scoots closer and her trembling starts affecting her whole body. It’s the most natural thing in the world to pull her into me with an arm curved gently around her shoulder, and I almost pop a chubby when she snuggles in and sighs contentedly, accepting the comfort easily.
“This is ridiculous! Paulette is engaged. She can’t just—”
“Well she is. That farce of an engagement you set up with the Huleys doesn’t hold water and you know it. She’s ours now, so you may as well run back to that pack of wolves who almost killed her and tell them that if they so much as breathe the same air as my kid, I will make them regret ever looking at her.”
“George. Please, you need to be reasonable. The Huleys are not a family to trifle with.”
Ah, so there it is. Frank is terrified of them, and if what Pop alluded to is true, then the Hayes clan is just as deeply involved in this mess as my baby was.
Looks to me like they’re afraid and reasonably so, but I can honestly say I don’t give a fig. Let the Patriots and the Huleys do to them what they will, I really don’t care as long as my baby is out of this shit and under my roof where she belongs.
“I am being reasonable, Frank. I’m letting you slink out of here unharmed when, in fact, I should beat you half to death for putting Paulie in that position in the first place. Don’t think I haven’t seen your game here. You gave her to them knowing what would happen. Look at her,” he snarls and I’m almost certain that if they say or do the wrong thing now, Pop will lose his cool.
Frank swallows and refuses to turn, not acknowledging Paulie at all.
“She did that to herself. I warned her not to go snooping.”
Jesus. The man should be shot for his poor parenting skills. I promise myself that I will never let a day go by that my and Paulie’s kids don’t know the depth of love I have for them.
“Get out.”
“George—”
“I
said get out of here, Frank, and take that viper with you before my Judy rearranges her jaw!” Pop yells, stepping back from the door.
I watch with amusement as the two of them scuttle from the room with their tails tucked between their legs and only let out a chuckle when Wyatt turns to Pop with a smile and high-fives the old coot.
“Good job, old man.”
Everyone is laughing by this time, and I feel myself relax and just soak it all in as the stress and strain of the last few days calms and melts away. At least that’s what I feel for all of two seconds before Cupcake starts sniffing and breaks out in huge sobs that shake both of us.
“Hey, Paulie, baby, don’t cry for those assholes,” Ma croons, coming over to embrace her with her own eyes misting up tearfully. “You don’t need them and…oh, honey, don’t cry. We’ll call them back.”
Chapter Three
Paulie
Jude Lane is hugging me. Me! The girl who nobody likes. The girl who betrayed the man she loved because she was too dumb to come up with a better plan than to get so involved while collecting evidence.
She’s hugging me the way I’d always dreamed a mother hugs her kid, and what do I do? I start bawling enough fill the Nile while everyone just looks on with pity.
I should stop, because the truth of the matter is that I do not deserve a moment of their kindness, and certainly not the way they all came to my defence, but who can blame me?
After seeing George Lane claim me as his own kid and the way Jared came to me and took me in his arms...this is everything I’ve ever dreamed of and held dear and wanted for as long as I can remember.
And I don’t deserve a minute of it.
I’m also crying a little because while I love that they just did all this, I’m going to have to decline their support and go back home. I need that stash I hid under the floorboards in my room, and I need it yesterday.
“Paulie, honey?”
I sniffle a few more times and wipe at my leaking eye, wincing when the salty burn smudges over the cuts and scrapes and starts the thing throbbing again.
JARED (Lane Brothers Book 4) Page 2
